Astro Boy
About the show ' History Osamu Tezuka (手塚 治虫) decided to write Astro Boy (鉄腕アトム ''Tetsuwan Atomu) to express themes and messages he had learned as a child during World War II, he ended up rewriting the story dozens of times, redrawing panels, getting rid of some, or cutting them up to try and fit the size of the Manga and/or magazine he had to write for. As such, it is hard to find an "authentic" or "true" version of the Astro Boy story. For the 1963 show, Astro Boy ended up being rewritten to simplify the story, because of the wider, less sophisticated audience the show was trying to appeal to. Despite the show's success, it wasn't making enough money to continue running, so Tezuka flew over to America (in a plane, of course) and made a deal with NBC to air English dubbed episodes of the first 52 episodes in America, they also demanded an intro be made for the show, which Tezuka loved so much that when he flew back over to Japan he added the intro to the Japanese version. NBC later bought another 52 episodes to dub and air, making the total episode count in America 104, and the total episode count in Japan 193. Astro Boy (the 1963 version) ran from January 1, 1963, to December 31, 1966 in Japan, and from September 7, 1963, to August 20, 1965 in America. Astro Boy was really popular in multiple countries across the world, getting several remakes and reboots. Plot Tobio Tenma was an average little boy, who was riding in a car. In the futuristic year of 2000, cars automatically follow a trail that is safe. All you have to do is press a button. But one day a horrible malfunction happened, which caused Tobio to crash into a truck. Struck with grief, Tobio's father, Umatoro Tenma (more commonly referred to as Doctor Tenma) came to the site of the accident in tears and held Tobio's dead body in his arms. He decided later in his office that he would build a robot to replace Tobio! After much hard work, dedication, and funds from an anonymous source, the project was completed a year later. The new robot Tobio spent much time with his father after his father quit his job. Dr. Tenma taught robot Tobio how to do many things, and is shown to have amazing knowledge and strength. But after several years, Dr. Tenma gets frustrated. He realizes that the robot Tobio wasn't growing at all, like all the other little boys. It's then when he realizes that this isn't his son, it's a completely different person. This was not his son, his son died a few years ago in that car accident, and he couldn't bring him back no matter what. Frustrated by this, in a fit of rage, he sells the robot Tobio to the robot circus owned by HamEgg. HamEgg renames the little robot Astro Boy and forces him to fight other robots in combat, this time he's fighting a robot named Zog. (Right) |left]] The new Ministry of Science, Dr. Ochanomizu, who took over after Dr. Tenma quit, got angry at the sight of such an innocent robot being forced to do such things! He got angry and started to yell at HamEgg! Thus he was kicked out. The fight continues after this and Astro is left standing on top of Zog. Astro Boy is unable to finish the job and is taken to the back of the tent and punished. He will go without electricity for a few days, or weeks even if this keeps up. He meets a pile of robots who have met the same fate, Astro Boy shares all his energy with them, and as a result, all the robots are able to move. After which, a stunt involving a dangerous trick that could set the tent on fire does just that. Astro Boy and the newly energized robots save everyone in the circus, Astro Boy even saving HamEgg. After this, Astro Boy runs out of energy and collapses. When HamEgg awakens in the hospital after a seemingly long while, he finds out that robots now have rights equal to that of humans! HamEgg realizes his business is ruined and slaps Dr. Ochanomizu, then breaks down in tears! Dr. Ochanomizu takes Astro Boy to the Ministry of Science with him, eventually making robot parents for him. Astro Boy meets a lot of other characters, some important ones include Uran, Cobalt, Pluto, Skunk, Inspector Tawashi, Acetylene Lamp, and Higeoyaji. Reception Astro Boy was an amazing cartoon for what they had, and was very successful, having a 3-year run in Japan, a 2-year run in America, and a movie in 1965. Rights to produce VCR tapes and DVD sets went to Rightstuf, who made every conceivable effort to present the highest quality of the episodes to the public. Trivia * In 1975, most of the English masters were destroyed in a fire. "Every conceivable effort was made to retrieve these episodes to present to you" on the DVD box set. * One of the episodes, "Midoro Marsh," was actually produced by another animation studio that Osamu Tezuka had sent the script to. It only aired once in its native country, and in America, its title was changed to "The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms," which was the title of a monster movie that had come out several years earlier. * The Astro Boy theme song wasn't added until '''after the American dub, this happened when NBC demanded Astro Boy have a theme song. Tezuka loved this theme song so much that when he went back to Japan he added it to the show in Japan. About the Manga History Astro Boy started off as a Japan-only manga in 1951 titled "Captain Atom" and the Captain Atom character became so popular that he got his own comic known as "Tetsuwan Atom" (Astro Boy in the US.) Plot The manga is about the same as the 1963 show, but the show does take some liberties in changing the plot of some chapters, such as episode 84/93 "Brother Jetto" and chapter 21 "Cobalt" which have completely different plots, despite introducing the same character. Reception In the beginning of one of his mangas, Tezuka had said that despite the negative feedback of his viewpoints of what the future would look like, Astro Boy was an instant success, and thousands if not millions of copies were produced and sold. About the characters Astro Boy Astro Boy's original name in Japan is The Mighty Atom(鉄腕アトム Tetsuwan Atomu), but his name is Astro Boy in the west, and they made no changes to this in the manga. Astro Boy has a strong resemblance to Jetter Mars. Personality Astro Boy wishes to end all conflict between robots and humans and wants them both to get along as equals. He hates violence, and will only fight if necessary. He cares about his family dearly and is very passionate for both robot and human life. Astro Boy is incredibly selfless and will sacrifice himself for the greater good, if necessary. Abilities Astro Boy has a high-functioning computer brain which makes him very smart and allows him to do things such as complicated math problems and defusing a bomb. Though he's smart intellectually, he was not smart socially. Dr. Tenma and Dr. Ochanomizu had to teach him most of the proper manners and human-like mannerisms he shows all the way leading up to the end of the show in 1966. He was also shown to be very clumsy at first, not knowing his own strength, and taking commands too literally. However now, he's shown to be a symbol of peace and is nicknamed the Hero of Justice. Sporting his 7 special powers he will always save the day! Uran Uran (ウラン) is Astro Boy's little sister. Uran is called "Astro Girl" in the 1963 dub but her name remains unchanged in the international version of the manga. Uran has a strong resemblance to Miri. History Uran was built by Dr. Ochanomizu as a present for Astro. He thought that having a little sister would teach Astro more about responsibilities. Personality Uran is a playful, cheerful, and spoiled little girl who likes to destroy things. Uran is tomboyish in the fact that she likes to fight and hates seeing Astro not use his 7 special powers to fight his enemies. Uran is also brave, but this could also just be stupidity. Either way, she's not afraid of anything, knowing she's the little sister of the amazing Astro Boy. Abilities Uran demonstrates her super-strength quite often and uses it to get what she wants, which is usually put to a halt by Astro Boy. She can also talk to animals in the 2003 Astro Boy series, and the 2010 Pluto manga. Even though it was only introduced in the 2003 series, there is a moment where Uran is talking to an animal in the 1963 show, though it doesn't seem she can understand them. Cobalt Cobalt (コバルト) is Astro Boy's bigger brother and is called "Jetto" in the 1963 dub of the show. Though, his name remains unchanged in the international version of the manga. Cobalt doesn't have a resemblance to anyone in the Jetter Mars series. Personality Cobalt is a little dull. To say the least, he isn't the brightest lightbulb in the box. He is, however, very nice and loyal, especially towards those that he owes something to. This is shown in his introduction episode where he was saved by a villain, who ended up using Cobalt to do evil deeds, this is put to a stop by Astro Boy and Cobalt finds out that what he was doing is wrong. After this, he goes to live with Astro. Abilities Cobalt, for the most part, has all of Astro Boy's powers. He isn't perfect though and he runs out of jet fuel rather quickly. History Cobalt was presumably built by Dr. Tenma and is a prototype of Astro Boy. After a scheduled cleanup of the storage room which Cobalt was being held in, Dr. Ochanomizu panics and gets Astro Boy to help him find Cobalt. Eventually, they do find him and Cobalt goes to live with Astro Boy. At least in the 1963 show, in the manga Cobalt was built by Dr. Ochanomizu as an imperfect copy of Astro Boy to defuse a bomb during Astro Boy's disappearance. He was unable to do it, but because of something called an "Omega Radar" Cobalt was able to find Astro Boy and get him to defuse the bomb. Chi-tan Chi-tan (チータン) is Astro Boy's baby brother and he only appears in the final season of the 1963 show, which was never aired in the U.S. Chi-tan never appears in the manga. Chi-tan has a strong resemblance to Melchi Personality & Abilities Chi-tan is a baby robot who cries a lot. In fact, his cries are so loud that they're known to break things. Being a baby Chi-tan doesn't have much of a personality. Dr. Ochanomizu Dr. Ochanomizu (お茶の水博士 Ochanomizu-hakase) is the head of the Ministry of Science and is the legal guardian of Astro Boy until Dr. Ochanomizu built his robotic foster parents. In the 1963 dub Dr. Ochanomizu is called Dr. Elefun, but his name remains unchanged in the international version of the manga. Dr. Ochanomizu has a strong resemblance to Dr. Kawashimo. Personality Dr. Ochanomizu is easily aggravated and will do whatever it takes to do the right thing. Whenever he's angry, a common thing that will happen is that his nose will flash from being normally colored to being black, indicating he's very angry. Another thing he'll do when he's angry is sneeze. He sneezes a lot when he's angry. Dr. Tenma Dr. Tenma (天馬博士 Tenma-hakase) is Astro Boy's creator and he's renamed to Dr. Boynton in the 1963 dub, though his name remains unchanged in the international version of the manga. He was the head of the Ministry of Science before he quit and Dr. Ochanomizu took over. Dr. Tenma, despite appearing in the Jetter Mars series, has a strong resemblance to Dr. Yamanoue. Dr. Tenma appears in Jetter Mars as Mr. Tenma, a much more calm and rational version of Dr. Tenma, though he does still make some irrational decisions. Personality Dr. Tenma is a very smart man, but he's very irritable and sold Astro Boy to a circus in a fit of anger. In some other adaptations of the series, it's also said that he's an alcoholic. Inspector Tawashi Inspector Tawashi (田鷲 たわし Tawashi-keibu) is a detective who doesn't like robots. In the 1963 dub he's called Inspector Gumshoe, but his name remains unchanged in the international version of the manga. He appears in Jetter Mars series as the head of the Ministry of Science, this is very strange since in his Astro Boy appearance he despises robots. He's called Professor Tawashi (田鷲博士 Tawashi-''hakase) in Jetter Mars. Personality He's very patient, but also very stubborn. It's hard to change his mind on anything. Higeoyaji Higeoyaji (ヒゲオヤジ) is an old man with a big mustache, which is where his nickname "Higeoyaji" came from. "Higeoyaji" means "'Mustache old man'" and he was called '''private detective Victor Pompous '''in the 1963 dub, and his name is "'Mr. Mustachio'''" in the manga. Personality Higeoyaji is very irritable and in-your-face. This doesn't help him in his detective work, but it always somehow works out in the end. He's also clumsy, and in one episode it's revealed that he's terrible at drawing. List of episodes Relation to Jetter Mars Astro Boy is the series that precedes Jetter Mars and is what a lot of the designs and plots for some of the episodes are based on. There are even some characters in Jetter Mars who originate from this show! List of Astro Boy characters who appeared in Jetter Mars Category:Shows Category:Characters Category:Manga